Within the royal palace of the capital, a section was under the full command of the Order of Royal Knights, commonly referred to as the Royal Knights Headquarters. That was where the knights trained, ate, and slept whenever they were not on any missions or campaigns.
While the royal family was officially considered the highest commanding power, for day-to-day matters regarding the Royal Knights' operations, the commander of the knights, Zaman Secondhand, took that role. He was the main decision maker on where funds would go, what missions would be prioritized, and, as of recently, was in charge of this year's knight selection.
Zaman Secondhand walked through the Royal Knights Headquarters with confident strides as he headed towards his destination. Knights who happened to see him made way for his passage. One could see in their eyes how much respect they had for their Commander.
If knights were asked how they would describe Zaman Secondhand, there were a few defining characteristics. Some called him a natural leader, others called him the most tactical knight they knew, but there was one defining characteristic that stood above all.
"Ah, Commander. You're right on time as usual."
Punctual.
Somehow, Zaman was never late or early. While it was common for people to be slightly early or late, that logic didn't apply to Zaman. Even if unpredictable events happened that would normally delay a person, they wouldn't affect the Commander, as if some mystical force would never allow it to impede his schedule. No one had ever seen Zaman arrive early or late, not even by a minute.
Zaman took a seat at the conference table with other high ranking knights who arrived before him.
With a professional smile, he spoke, "Let's begin today's meeting."
These high ranking knights covered a variety of topics from ongoing missions to updating the lunch menu. Zaman didn't voice his opinion often and let the group decide what they believed to be best, only inputting his opinion when he deemed it necessary. Eventually, they reached a topic that required his direct input.
"Commander Zaman, the window to sign up for the knight selection had ended and we were looking at the number of participants… Frankly, it's too many. Almost triple of last year. We only have 200 open spots this year, should we automatically disqualify the lowest leveled applicants?"
It was a question that had been weighing on the mind of a big eyed knight who had been in charge of the applications. He believed it would be best to simply raise the base requirements from low C to high C-Rank, which would cut off a big portion of the applicants. In his personal opinion, it would be a waste of time to hire lower leveled recruits and end up spending even more resources leveling them up.
Zaman shook his head.
"No, all who applied deserve the right to a fair testing process. Not only that, but we would also be missing out on potential talents that would eventually outshine those higher level applicants."
"Then what should we do? It's fine for the first test, we just check the status page, but what of the second test? We don't have enough available knights to watch over so many applicants."
"Hmm, the second test was a battlefield illusion, correct?"
"Yes, Commander, we would split the forces in two and see how they would organize and fight each other."
"Scrap the plan."
"Yes—wait, what?"
The big eyed knight's eyes widened even more. A lot of money was invested in preparing the illusion formation and illusionists to maintain it. To do away with it felt like a waste to the knight.
Zaman elaborated, "We will still use the illusion formation but let's change the rules. Instead of two battlefields, let's make it into an elimination event. Each applicant will individually face illusion enemies of the same level as them at increasing difficulty. Those who pass a certain amount of rounds against the illusions pass. This way, we don't have to watch over everyone; those of poor quality that can't even beat opponents of the same level will be quickly eliminated."
Side chatter erupted from many knights.
"It's possible… We won't have to watch over them either, as those who lose will be kicked out of the illusion."
"Will the illusionists we hired be able to change the formation in time? We only have 3 days."
"Hah. They're illusionists, don't they often brag about how easy it is to change illusions to their likings?"
"Quiet down, everyone."
The room fell silent upon Zaman's words.
"Someone call the illusionists and inform them of the changes, also tell them I will later provide the plan for the increasing difficulty."
A short and round knight stood up and spoke, "Yes, Commander, I'll handle it!"
Zaman was about to end the meeting until the big eyed knight spoke up again.
"Commander, in addition to the normal applicants, we also received two odd ones, both are A-Rankers."
Confusion arose from the knights. A-Rankers applying to become knights were extremely uncommon, much less two at once. Most people become knights for stability or in hopes of using the resources to break through to A-Rank. If they were already A-Rank, it would defeat the purpose to apply in the first place.
While the addition of two A-Rankers would definitely bolster the kingdom's might, all the knights found it suspicious.
Zaman gave his verdict, "Do a background check on both of them, see if we can uncover the real reason they are applying. Send two squads to investigate both of them and request assistance from the Royal Shadows."
A few knights raised their eyebrows while others sighed at the mention of the Royal Shadows. They were the secret agents that worked directly for the royal family, collecting information or silencing threats. Not even Commander Zaman could order them. Only the king was able to mobilize the Royal Shadows, but with the king's current state where he was only conscious sporadically through the day, it would be unlikely for them to respond to their request.
"Even the princess can't command them until she ascends to the throne. I don't think they will listen to our request."
"That doesn't mean they are idly doing nothing; they are still actively collecting information but simply not acting upon it unless it follows an order previously given by the king. We can only hope that a previous order given by the king aligns with sharing this information with us…"
The knights believed it to be worth a shot and would send a representative to contact them later. Zaman ended the meeting and left the rest of the knights in the conference room. The meeting ran a bit later than usual, and he had a training lesson with the princess soon on the other side of the castle. Though it normally takes at least 20 minutes to cross that distance, Zaman didn't worry because he would always arrive on time.